Printing XY drive drums for my Giant printer now - in true RepRap style

First class result   First printed parts that were not a test

I have a few things to sort out with Slic3r.  For instance there are two places  to put Start G-Code and End G-Code - "Filament Settings" and "Printer Settings".

Hover the mouse over the boxes and it explains what to use them for. I have mine in the Printer Settings.

Seems to work in the Printer Settings.  But I still have a funny to sort out - the 12v power is turned off when the hotend gets down to 70°C as set up but afterwards Duet says Fault for the hotend heater and I have to restart the Duet when I want to print again.  Maybe it needs the heater turned off again.  This is my End G-Code :-

; Mini end code
M104 S0 ; Turn off extruder heater
M140 S0 ; Turn off bed heater
G1 X0 Y0 Z100 ; home  X & Y and set Z to 100
M84     ; disable motors
M109 R70 ; Set extruder temperature and wait to cool
; M107 ; Turn off fume extraction fan
M81 ; Turn off ATX PSU

When you get a fault sometimes there is more info on the Gcode Console page.

Fixed   Added the line

M104 S0 ; Turn off extruder heater

After

M109 R70 ; Set extruder temperature and wait to cool

So the new (correct) End G-code is

; Mini end code
M104 S0 ; Turn off extruder heater
M140 S0 ; Turn off bed heater
G1 X0 Y0 Z100 ; home  X & Y and Z to 100
M84     ; disable motors
M109 R70 ; Set extruder temperature and wait to cool
M104 S0 ; Turn off extruder heater
; M107 ; Turn off fume extraction fan
M81 ; Turn off ATX PSU

Only problem now (apart from WiFi) is that I can't hear when the printer is working   Unless I'm within a few feet of it and can hear the extruder fan.

Now I have a printer that works well enough for printing parts I can either continue working on the Giant printer (which is continuing anyway) or replace the RAMPS etc. on my Titan printer with the Duet.  I can print parts for the Giant with the Mini - I no longer need the Titan except for bigger parts.

There are a couple of minor bits to add to the Mini printer sometime.  LED lighting strips, Raspberry Pi camera and I think I'll add the rubber feet from the Pilot to complete the job.  I might add acrylic panels to the sides plus maybe plywood top and add a door, to form a fume cabinet.  Then I can keep it in the living room where the Pilot printer was.  Oh, and I'll probably add a shield for the Duet board which is exposed on the back of the printer.  Later, I expect to swap the bed heater for the new mains version - 400W compared with 220W.

Printed parts production progressing perfectly   Just printed one Z bearing block for the Giant and now printing the second

The WiFi is now working fine with the new access point   As I suspected the whole problem with the WiFi was inadequate signal strength.  So that's everything working fine - just a matter of a little bit of tidying up - fixing wiring runs mostly.  After that I shall adjust the settings in Slic3r to optimum for the various types of filament I use.  I'm quite happy with Slic3r so far.

Been trying PETG but having problems.  Not sticking to bed.  I suspect the temperature calibration differs between my Titan and Mini printers.  Thermistors are far from accurate.  Probably better to start from scratch with the recommended temperatures.  Someone posted a chart with lots of filament type but I can't find it now.

Are you talking hotend or bed thermistor?

I was having difficulty trying to get an accurate hotend temperature with the old style heater blocks so I got a new style one with the thermistor cartridge.

Most of the silicon heater thermistors are the Marlin type 75. In Duet terms this gives:

M305 P0 T100000 B3950 C0 R4700

Duet uses the thermistor parameters (beta etc) directly whereas Marlin uses a table which has been pre-generated from the same parameters.

The Titan has the old sort of hotend thermistor but the Mini has the new cartridge type.  The bed thermistors are integral with the bed heater pad.  Don't know whether hotend or bed is the trouble (or both).  My Duet is set as :-

M305 P0 T100000 B4138 C0 R4700

which does seem to be wrong - wonder where B4138 came from.  Looking at the bed heaters, where specified gave this :-

Quote

Integrated with NTC 100K thermistor ( Beta 25/50 3950K) as temperature control sensor.

I'll change the bed thermistor setting.

Now to the hotend thermistor.  Been on E3D web site and found instructions for Duet.  Using the online configuration tool, the thermistor used by E3D is shown.  Strangely the  (beta) value changes on applying the values.

Changed config.g accordingly

; Heaters
M305 P0 T100000 B3950 C0 R4700    ; Set thermistor + ADC parameters for heater 0
M143 H0 S150                      ; Set temperature limit for heater 0 to 150C
M305 P1 T100000 B4388 C0 R4700    ; Set thermistor + ADC parameters for heater 1
M143 H1 S300                      ; Set temperature limit for heater 1 to 300C  

Gone back to ABS to check that it still prints alright - it does but maybe not quite perfectly.  Of course, 3D printers alway take a fair bit of setting up - comes with the territory

One thing I think I will add to this printer is panels to enclose it so that I can extract fumes from ABS etc.

Thought I'd try the LokBuild I bought for this size printer.  By Jove - ABS sticks to it like glue and absolutely no curl/lifting.  Only problem - it takes a lot of getting off - had to resort to a knife between print and LokBuild.  Now going to try TPU filament.

Z drive motor pinion for Giant printer printed successfully in TPU filament.  So now have ABS and TPU printing alright.  Almost two extremes - stiff and hard to soft and springy

Trying PETG again now.  Seems stuck to bed but not laying properly on layer - guess it needs higher hotend temperature.

Well, LokBuild is brilliant for holding the print onto the bed but much less so at letting go when you want to get it off!!  Now I have the opposite problem from previously - DOH.

I think I'm going back to glass - trying to get the print off LokBuild is near impossible   I guess for prints with a large overhang and something to grab to break it off the bed it might be alright.  Oh well, if you don't try these things you never know!

One last try with PETG and LokBuild on bed   Bed temperature down to 50°C and nozzle at 0.9mm above bed.  Filament temperature at 255°C and layer height at 0.25mm apart from first.  Print looks alright ATM but it hasn't finished yet

Better - I was able to prise it off the bed without too much trouble.  No mirror finish with this stuff, unlike glass.  This is the X drive gear for the Giant printer - 120mm diameter. 

Photos top and bottom.